Silent
by The Alice Killer - Storm
Summary: Dia is mute. She ends up having to partner with Hanamaru for a project. Hanamaru takes the time to figure why Dia refuses to talk when she can.


**TW: Brief mention of rape**

The bell rang, dismissing everyone from their classes for the day. Two girls were whispering to each other. After a moment, they got up from their desks and walked over to where another girl was. She was slowly packing up her books. She kept looking at the other students in the class, almost as if she was waiting for them to leave.

"Hey, Dia. You wanna go catch a movie with us?" One of the girls asked.

Dia paused from her actions and looked up at them. She shook her head and then went back to what she was doing. The two other girls looked at each other.

"You have something to do?" The other girl asked.

Dia nodded. She picked up her bag and stood up from her desk. She waved goodbye to her friends and then left the room. It wasn't often that Dia did this without giving a prior notice about it.

"So… you wanna go, Kanan?"

"Sure, Mari. I think she'll be fine by herself."

DIVIDER--

Dia made her way to the school's library. She had a book she needed to get for a school project. She had been unsuccessful in finding it at the public library in town, so she had to go here instead. Dia glanced around at the students who were walking past her. No one looked at her or spoke to her. She was glad. She didn't want to have to do that.

Dia made it to the library. She took a little break and then walked inside. She didn't see anyone around. She was glad about that. She didn't want to see anyone and risk them wanting to talk. Dia didn't talk to people. It wasn't something she did anymore.

"Ah, h-hello? Can I help you, zura?" A voice suddenly spoke up.

Dia jumped slightly at the sudden noise. She turned and saw a girl standing behind the counter. She didn't know what to do. She felt it would be rude to just ignore her, but she didn't know how to respond. Getting people to understand you without using your voice was hard.

Dia wanted to shake her head, but she kind of did need help. She had no idea where to find the book. Dia slowly walked up to the counter. The girl smiled at her. Dia nervously smile back. She spotted the book she needed on the counter. It looked as though the girl was reading it.

"Um… what do you need?" The girl ask. She was a little unnerved at the silence Dia was giving her. She didn't know if she had done something wrong.

Dia hesitantly pointed to the book. The girl followed her finger. She seemed to understand what it was that Dia needed.

"You're reading that book for the project?" The girl asked as she grabbed a spare copy.

Dia nodded. The girl didn't understand why she hadn't spoken once this entire time. She didn't want to say anything. Part of it was because she was too awkward to mention it, and part of it was because she was afraid she would seem rude. She wasn't the best at talking to people, especially not her seniors. She always felt so awkward talking to students older than her.

"Um… I was assigned that book too. That means we're partners." The girl said.

Dia knew that was going to happen. She was going to end up with someone she didn't know. She already had checked with Kanan and Mari to see what books they had gotten. They got two different books. None of them were together at all.

Normally, Kanan and Mari would fight the teacher to be with Dia. They argued that no one else would deal with her. The teachers rarely would listen to them. It was always Dia who was losing the battles. She never got anything good out of her partners.

"So… I'm Hanamaru. What's your name?"

Dia grabbed her school ID from her bag and held it out. Hanamaru read it over. She was even more confused. She had thought that Dia would've at least spoken her name.

"Well, it's nice to meet you." Hanamaru said, "I hope we can get along."

Dia just nodded in reply. She took the book and then left. She didn't want to stay there for any longer. It was getting tough. She wasn't good at communicating with people who didn't know what was going on with her.

DIVIDER--

The next day at school was even harder. They had to work with their partners today. Dia was not looking forward to it at all. She didn't know how things would go between them. She didn't know if she would end up frustrating Hanamaru by her silence. That was what happened often with any partners she had. They always got fed up with the fact that she refused to speak to them.

Hanamaru smiled and waved as Dia approached her location. Dia hesitantly waved back. She didn't like this at all. She just wanted to work alone. Dia sat down beside Hanamaru. She was not looking forward to this at all. She wished she could do something to get out of it.

"You ready?" Hanamaru asked.

Dia nodded. She pulled out the stuff she needed and set it down. Hanamaru already had all of her stuff out and ready. Dia looked at her.

"Um… can you talk?" Hanamaru asked hesitantly.

Dia nodded.

"Do you not want to talk?" Hanamaru asked.

Dia nodded again.

"So, you can talk, but you won't? Did something happen?" Hanamaru was trying to figure out as much as she could.

Dia nodded once again. She looked down at the ground. She didn't want to look at her anymore. Hanamaru didn't think she could get any more out. She knew if she tried she would be pushing her limits. She had only met Dia yesterday. She had no right to know personal stuff about her so soon. That would come with time, if they spent more time together after this project was over.

"You wanna start on this then? We have a lot of work to do." Hanamaru said.

Dia looked at her. She hesitantly nodded. Hanamaru looked at the list of what they needed to do. She grabbed what they needed and then they got to work. Dia was glad she wasn't being forced to talk.

They worked on their project until the bell rang. They hadn't done a lot of it. They had a lot to do still. It was hard to do with Dia not talking. She communicated through a notepad app on her phone. It took a while for her to type, so they were slowed down. Hanamaru didn't seem to mind it at all. She waited patiently for Dia to be ready. Dia was surprised. No one besides Kanan and Mari have ever put up with her for this long before.

"Can I come over to your house so we can do more work? Mine isn't very good for having guests over." Hanamaru asked.

Dia didn't reply for a while. She didn't know if she wanted to have Hanamaru over. After a little while, she finally nodded to her. Hanamaru smiled at her. Dia packed up her things. Hanamaru did the same. Dia sent a text to Kanan to tell her what was going on. She knew Kanan had been hoping to hang out with her after school.

Dia led the way to her house. She was still nervous about this. She wasn't used to having people over. She only ever was with Kanan and Mari. They understood her problem already. She liked having them around because they knew everything. Hanamaru didn't know anything.

It wasn't long before they made it to her house. Dia unlocked the door. She led Hanamaru inside and up to her room. The two of them sat on her floor. Hanamaru pulled out the stuff they still needed to do. They got to work shortly after.

DIVIDER--

They worked for almost three hours on their project. They almost finished it. They stopped when it was dinner time. The rest of Dia's family was surprised that she had brought Hanamaru over. She never brought anyone but Kanan and Mari over to the house.

Dia never wanted to bring anyone else over. No one would want to anyway. Everyone who Dia met and tried to befriend left before long. They couldn't handle not getting a response from her. Dia never had anyone new to bring over because of that. Ruby was the only one who brought friends over, and even then, most didn't like to come back.

Afterwards, they want back up to Dia's room and finished their project. Hanamaru was going to leave, when it just started snowing. She looked out the window and sighed. There was no way she could walk home. There was barely any visibility at this point. She'd get lost easily.

"Could I maybe stay for the night?" Hanamaru nervously asked.

Dia nodded after a minute. She didn't want to have Hanamaru walking home alone. Dia offered to let her stay with her. The guest room wasn't ready for anyone. They normally didn't use that room for things like this anyway. They would just share the room. When is was Kanan or Mari over, they'd share the bed together, but all three of them couldn't fit together on the bed, so they'd sleep on the floor instead.

The two of them awkwardly shared the bed. Hanamaru was trying her hardest to sleep. Dia was staring up at the ceiling. She wasn't ready to sleep yet. She glanced over at Hanamaru. Dia didn't know why, but she had the urge to do something she hadn't done in a long time.

"I don't like to talk because of trauma…" Dia whispered as she turned to face Hanamaru fully.

Hanamaru stared at Dia in surprise. She had not been expecting her to talk. Hanamaru didn't know how to respond to that. She didn't know if she should ask for more detail or if that would be rude to do. She didn't need to do anything, though. Dia started talking more about it on her own.

"My dad keeps… arranging suitors for me…" Dia mumbled, "One of them… raped me."

"Oh my god… I'm so sorry… that must've been horrible." Hanamaru frowned, "I can see why you'd not want to talk. That must've been really traumatizing.""

"Dad doesn't believe me…" Dia said.

"He doesn't?" Hanamaru was shocked to learn that.

Dia nodded. Hanamaru frowned more. She couldn't believe that. She hesitantly hugged Dia. Dia curled up into her embrace. She didn't feel too awkward doing so.

"You're the first person to hear me speak since that day." Dia admitted.

"How long ago was that?" Hanamaru asked.

"A year ago…" Dia mumbled.

"Well, I'm glad you feel comfortable enough to talk to me." Hanamaru stated.

Dia didn't reply. She just glanced anywhere but at Hanamaru. Hanamaru assumed she wasn't talking anymore.

"Good night." Hanamaru whispered.

The two of them soon fell asleep.

DIVIDER--

Dia slowly started opening up more to Hanamaru as time went on. She had only just started talking to Kanan and Mari recently. They were both very surprised to learn that Hanamaru had gotten Dia to talk again after only knowing her for two days.

Kanan and Mari had made it a goal to get to know Hanamaru better themselves. They wanted to know who she was. They wanted to see if there was a reason that Dia might've opened up to her so soon. They had been there the entire time, and she hadn't once talked to them. They were very confused, to say the least.

Dia still didn't talk to anyone else, though. She was at the point where she would say a word or two to Ruby, but that was it. She didn't know why she was having issues opening up again with Ruby, but she was. She still remained completely mute while at school. She didn't talk to anyone there. She didn't want to risk a teacher hearing and then forcing her to talk when she didn't want to.

It had taken ages to get the teachers to back off of her. If they heard her talk, all that work would be thrown in the trash. Dia didn't want that. She knew she wouldn't be able to talk in front of the entire class. Not yet, anyway. Maybe in the future, but for now she couldn't manage it. She'd end up making a fool of herself, to say the least.

Dia and Hanamaru started hanging out a lot more. This was another one of those days. They were visiting a small bookstore at the edge of the town. There were only two other people in the store with them. Even then, Dia didn't talk. She never spoke when there were people around that she didn't know or trust.

After they were done, Hanamaru asked if she could show Dia something. Dia agreed to the request. Hanamaru smiled and led her to a desolate place. It was the top of a cliff. When you looked down, you could see a pond. With the setting sun reflecting into it, it almost looked like it was glowing in gold.

"Dia?" Hanamaru called, "Can I ask you something?"

"Sure…" Dia nodded.

"So… I… I um, like you… a lot. I was wondering if… you liked me too…" Hanamaru stammered out. She was turning bright red.

"You mean, as more than a friend?" Dia asked.

Hanamaru nodded. She couldn't bring herself to look at Dia. She was afraid she was going to be rejected. They hadn't really known each other for that long. She couldn't help but worry she was rushing into this.

Dia took quite some time to reply. That just increased Hanamaru's nerves. She didn't know what to say was the reason. She couldn't tell if Dia was just thinking about it or if she was trying to figure out how to break the news that she didn't like her.

"I… I think I might like you too…" Dia hesitantly whispered.

"Really, zura?" Hanamaru's eyes lit up.

Dia nodded. Hanamaru smiled at her.

"Would you, maybe be my girlfriend?" Hanamaru asked as she danced on the tips of her toes.

Dia didn't respond right away. She was thinking it over. She didn't want to rush into something like this. Dia couldn't find any reason to say no, so she nodded. Hanamaru smiled even brighter and hugged Dia. Dia hugged her back and planted a kiss on her head.

Hanamaru looked up at her. She looked away and pressed a small kiss to Dia's cheek. Dia smiled at her. Hanamaru was a blushing mess. Dia wasn't really. She had a slight blush, but it was nothing compared to Hanamaru's.

"Maru… thank you for, y'know, being patient with me." Dia mumbled, "I didn't think anyone would really give me the time I needed."

"You're welcome, zura!" Hanamaru said as she grabbed one of Dia's hands and held it.

"You want to sleep over tonight?" Dia asked.

Hanamaru nodded, "I'd like that."

"Shall we go now?"

"Sure!"

The two of them went to Dia's house. Both of them were smiling the entire way. They walked holding hands. They went to Dia's room and laid down on the bed together. They laid there is silence for a while. It wasn't an uncomfortable silence.

After a few minutes, Hanamaru shifted and snuggled into Dia's side. Dia smiled at her. She wrapped an arm around Hanamaru and pulled her closer. Hanamaru smiled contently as she settled down into Dia's side. Dia placed some feather-light kisses on her head.

"I love you…"

"I love you too."

They stated like that for a while. They only moved when they had to get up for dinner. Ruby asked them to a small movie marathon in the living room. They agreed to it. The three of them sat down on the floor and watched some movies together. Ruby wanted to know a little bit more about Hanamaru herself, so she felt like this was a good way to do it.

Ruby would talk to Hanamaru whenever there were commercials. She asked simple questions. She didn't want to seem like she was interrogating her or anything.

When it hit 10, they all went to bed. Hanamaru and Dia snuggled under the covers. They hugged each other as they drifted off to sleep. Both fell asleep with smiles on their faces.


End file.
